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Wednesday, September 7, 2011

TCT - 10 Interesting Mental Disorders

Have you ever wanted to open a pressure cooker before letting it stabilize? I know I have. Of course, I know that it would be dangerous and that there would be one hell of a mess to clean up. Doesn't keep me from being curious, though. I wonder what would it look like, how it would sound, and whether the food really would reach the ceiling.

Yesterday, I stood staring at my pressure cooker, desperately wanting to open it... and I wondered just why I held back. I somehow doubted that every other person in the world would have restrained themselves if they were suddenly overcome with curiosity.

Yes, many many of them would have been aware of the danger factor which would, in turn, leave them floundering in a state of unrequited curiosity, but I bet quite a few of them would have taken the risk. Everyone has different levels of restraint, for whatever reasons.

My thought process went one step further: I wondered if there were certain mental conditions that actually made people take risks based on curiosity.

And suddenly it dawned on me that just about every potentially dangerous (or dirty!) thought could be amplified and linked to something someone does and maybe enjoys out there, whether or not they’re aware of it. The reasons could be extreme tastes, mental disorders, etc. Rule 34 comes to mind, i.e., that a fetish exists out there for just about any conceivable subject, but I won’t go into that here.

Overcome by curiosity - and this time I didn’t restrain myself! - I decided to google interesting mental disorders. I’ve put together a list of the strangest or funniest ones I could find. This list is subjective, of course.

Here goes.

1. Gamomania. a disorder that causes people to make spontaneous, preposterous marriage proposals - even to random strangers. Let’s hope that if you marry one you’re open to a polygamous relationship!

2. Doromania. an obsession with giving gifts. Kinda makes you want to find one to befriend, huh? Although it wouldn’t be as fun if the person decided to give paperclips and bottle caps.

3. Cotard Syndrome. People with this syndrome believe they don’t exist. Yup. They think they’re dead.

4. Body Integrity Identity Disorder. People with BIID believe that they will live better lives if they remove one or more of their body parts. Usually, they don’t try to remove the body parts themselves; they simply pretend that they don’t have it, like pretending they don’t have a left arm.

5. Capgras' syndrome. If you are convinced that someone is using polyjuice potion to impersonate a close friend or relative, then you might be suffering from this syndrome. It involves a delusional belief that someone close to you has been replaced by an imposter.

6. Autassassinophilia. This is a disorder that causes some people to get aroused only when in grave danger. I wonder how someone with this syndrome would feel about opening a pressure cooker before it’s ready to be opened...

7. Folie à deux (French for “a madness shared by two”). This is when two or more people are living in close proximity and symptoms of psychosis are shared by them. Imagine! Some delusions can be contagious. :-O

8. Foreign accent syndrome. Yup. It’s exactly what it sounds like. Usually, it follows a severe brain injury, such as a stroke. I think I would find it extremely funny if someone developed this syndrome without any sort of injury.

9. Strange fears. Originally I had written Androphobia (fear of men) here, but then I realized that there are tons of strange, inexplicable and often hilarious fears out there.

10. The Jumping Frenchmen of Maine. First of all, I just love the name of this one. Secondly, it’d be awesome to have someone with this mental disorder at your beck and call, because it means that they jump up and obey any command you give them. Even if you tell them to drown themselves, but that’s just mean. Imagine telling someone to learn how to make the world’s best cup of coffee and have them make it for you every single day. Sigh. Now, off to find my husband...

#8 I have this disorder. my friends think its hillarious that they often have to anounce to me that im speaking in an accent to get me to stop and realise it. Then of course we all burst out in laughter and try to identify what exact accent it was. XD